The present invention relates to ultrasound measurement systems and methods of making measurements from ultrasound images. Ultrasound measurement systems typically are used to make measurements from a displayed ultrasound image. The ultrasound image is provided from an ultrasound imaging system, a recording device, or an off-line storage system.
Ultrasound imaging systems can produce images of a patient's internal organs for display on a monitor. The information measurable from the monitor depends on the operational mode of the displayed image. For example, a two-dimensional mode (2-D), sometimes known as B-mode, allows for the measuring of distances, areas and volumes off of the display screen; a Doppler mode allows for the obtaining of measurements that indicate velocities from the display screen; a motion mode (M-Mode) shows the movement of structures in one-dimension over time.
One prior system for making ultrasound measurements is to use a ruler or hand-held calipers to make the desired measurements from a display screen. By knowing the scale of the screen view, the physical distance on the screen can be manually converted into a desired measurement. A relatively large margin of error is associated with the use of the hand-held calipers or rulers. Additionally, the manual computation of the results, either with a calculator or with pen and paper, introduces another potential error.
Other ultrasound measurement systems use computerized tools. These systems use graphical measurement tools that appears on the display screen and allow for the measurement of structures in images displayed on the display screen. Ultrasound measurement systems that use computerized tools include the Acuson 128XP Computed Sonography System, described in the "Acuson 128XP Computed Sonography System User Manual for Cardiovascular Applications", sections 9 and 10, copyright 1991 by ACUSON Corporation, incorporated herein by reference. In the Acuson 128XP Computed Sonography System, when a measurement is selected from a menu on a display screen, the pertinent computerized graphical tools are shown on the display screen. These graphical tools allow a desired measurement to be made off of the display screen. Measurements can be done in different operational modes and the measurement is interpreted accordingly.